Of course as Jim indicates, when all the science is discussed and evaluated Mother Nature tends to do what she darn pleases, and we all hope she pleases to give us a spectacular foliage season, especially for those that have booked their vacations to New England many months ago.

Cliff

Your comment is propitiously timed. I’m finishing up a section about the fall on my site, http://www.newenglandtimes.com. What follows is a shortened version of the science behind tree colors.

First, if you’re thinking about coming to Vermont in October, you’re likely to have missed the fall foliage peak. Predictions this year are that northern Vermont will go into peak during the last two weeks in September. Southern parts of the state may still have color in October, but there will be quite a few bald spots (no PC comments please. I’m follically challenged myself!!).

Many believe that summer weather determines how deep the hues will be. Most botanists believe that spring and fall play far bigger roles than does summer. If weather conditions are right in the spring, that helps to some extent with leaf brightness. However, fall itself is the final determiner of color brightness. If we have sunny days and long, cool nights (between 32 and 45 degrees) we’re far more likely to have brighter colors.

The leaves that turn yellow or orange have yellow or orange pigments from the time they first start to grow. They get covered by chlorophyll, which turns them green. But, as the days get shorter and the nights longer, a shut off of chlorophyll to the leaves is triggered in the tree, which then prepares itself for dormancy. It stays alive during the winter with glucose it stored in the summer.

As the green dissipates, the yellow, gold and orange pigments are revealed and they then spread to color the whole leaf.

With red trees, the color isn’t determined until the fall. Tree food is glucose, which is manufactured in the tree by water and carbon dioxide, the latter of which is captured by the leaves. When the chlorophyll is cut off, glucose is trapped in the leaves’ veins. That turns red relatively quickly because of the red and purple pigments.

While I say that the forecast is for peak to arrive in northern Vermont during the last two weeks in September, no one really knows for certain. The truth is, Mother Nature can be arbitrary and capricious, and while various sources see leaf peak beginning in September, it could be either delayed or sped up.

As of today, the leaves are still green in northern Vermont. A few young, rogue maples are beginning to show their colors, but the colors are nowhere near what they will be.

However waiting until October, depending on where in Vermont you plan to go, could land you in the midst of “stick season,” when the leaves have already fallen and bare limbs clatter in fall’s winds.

No guarantees, but I’d recommend that you come up here during the final two weeks of September and maybe the first week of October, but no later.

James H. Hyde
Editor
http://www.newenglandtimes.com
and http://www.exploringnewengland.com

I like the way you described Vermont (“home to orchards, wineries and farms where foliage time also means harvest time.”) and it made me feel envious about having such a astoundingly beautiful place like Vermont. If life would be better next year, maybe me and my family can come places like it aside from traveling to our local natural scenic beauty here in our native land, the Philippines.

I hope you visit my blog too about the captivating Capiz Treasures that we came to share with our people as well as the tourists that come here each year for an unforgettable travel.

Thanks also for an outstanding blog on New England – keep it up.

jamie